• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.291-315
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• 2019

Fatigue cracks are inevitable in circumstances in which the cyclic loading exists. Therefore, many of mechanical components are in a risk of being in exposure to fatigue cracks. On the other hand, renewing the facilities or infrastructures is not always possible. Therefore, retrofitting the structures by means of the available methods, such as crack arrest methods is logical and in some cases inevitable. In this regard, this paper considers three popular crack arrest methods (e.g., drilling stop-hole, steel welded patch, and carbon fiber reinforced (CFRP) patch), which have been compared by using extended finite element method (XFEM). In addition, effects in terms of the width and thickness of patches and the configuration of drilling stop holes have been evaluated. Test results indicated that among the considered methods, CFRP patches were the most effective means for arresting cracks. Besides, in the case of arresting by means of drilling stop holes, drilling two holes next to the crack-tip was more effective than blunting the crack-tip by drilling one hole. In other words, the results indicated that the use of symmetric welded metal patches could lead to a 21% increase in fatigue life, as compared to symmetric stop holes. Symmetric CFRP patches enhanced the fatigue life of cracked specimen up to 77%, as compared to drilling symmetric stop holes. In addition, in all cases, symmetric configurations were far better than asymmetric ones.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2011

The strengthening effect of CFRP sheet and AFRP sheet with buckling-restrained brace for Beam-Column joints under constant axial and cyclic lateral loading is evaluated experimentally in this paper. Six test specimens were constructed. The main test parameters included the FRP Sheet and Buckling-restrained braces. The results of the tests were analyzed by focusing on their mode of failure, maximum load, ductility indexes, and energy dissipation capacity. Test results indicated that CFRP Sheet with the buckling-restrained brace system significantly increased the strength and stiffness of the specimen and that it was the most adequate retrofitting method.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.357-378
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• 2016

The progressive collapse phenomenon in structures has been interested by civil engineers and the building standards organizations. This is particularly true for the tall and special buildings ever since local collapse of the Ronan Point tower in UK in 1968. When initial or secondary defects of main load carrying elements, overloads or unpredicted loads occur in the structure, a local collapse may be arise that could be distributed through entire structure and cause global collapse. One is not able to prevent the reason of failure as well as the prevention of propagation of the collapse. Also, one is not able to predict the start point of collapse. Therefore we should generalize design guides to whole or the part of structure based on the risk analysis and use of load carrying elements removal scenario. There are some new guides and criteria for elements and connections to be designed to resist progressive collapse. In this paper, codes and recommendations by various researchers are presented, classified and compared for steel structures. Two current design methods are described in this paper and some retrofitting methods are summarized. Finally a steel building with special moment resistant frame is analyzed as a case study based on two standards guidelines. This includes consideration of codes recommendations. It is shown that progressive collapse potential of the building depends on the removal scenario selection and type of analysis. Different results are obtained based on two guidelines.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.309-325
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• 2015

A convenient procedure for seismic retrofit of existing buildings is to use passive control methods, like using friction dampers in steel frames with bracing systems. In this method, reduction of seismic demand and increase of ductility generally improve seismic performance of the structures. Some of its advantages are development of a stable rectangular hysteresis loop and independence on environmental conditions such as temperature and loading rate. In addition to friction dampers, masonry-infill panels improve the seismic resistance of steel structures by increasing lateral strength and stiffness and reducing story drifts. In this study, the effect of masonry-infill panels on seismic performance of a three-span four-story steel frame with Pall friction dampers is investigated. The results show that friction dampers in the steel frame increase the ductility and decrease the drift (to less than 1%). The infill panels fulfill their function during the imposed drift and increase structural strength. It can be concluded that infill panels together with friction dampers, reduced structural dynamic response. These infill panels dissipated input earthquake energy from 4% to 10%, depending on their thickness.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.787-803
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• 2016

DDARF (Discontinuous Deformation Analysis for Rock Failure) is a numerical algorithm for simulating jointed rock masses' discontinuous deformation. While its reinforcement simulation is only limited to end-anchorage bolt, which is assumed to be a linear spring simply. Here, several new reinforcement modes in DDARF are proposed, including lining reinforcement, full-length anchorage bolt and equivalent reinforcement. In the numerical simulation, lining part is assigned higher mechanical strength than surrounding rock masses, it may include multiple virtual joints or not, depending on projects. There must be no embedding or stretching between lining blocks and surrounding blocks. To realize simulation of the full-length anchorage bolt, at every discontinuity passed through the bolt, a set of normal and tangential spring needs to be added along the bolt's axial and tangential direction. Thus, bolt's axial force, shearing force and full-length anchorage effect are all realized synchronously. And, failure criterions of anchorage effect are established for different failure modes. In the meantime, from the perspective of improving surrounding rock masses' overall strength, a new equivalent and tentative simulation method is proposed, it can save calculation storage and improve efficiency. Along the text, simulation algorithms and applications of these new reinforcement modes in DDARF are given.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2021

In this study, in order to improve the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures, various external attachment of corner steel frame configurations was considered as a user-friendly retrofitting method. The external steel frame is designed to contribute to the lateral stiffness and load carrying capacity of the existing RC structure. A six-story building was taken into account. Four different external corner steel frame configurations were suggested in order to strengthen the building. The 3D models of the building with suggested retrofitting steel frames were developed within ABAQUS environment using solid finite elements and analyzed under horizontal loadings nonlinearly. Horizontal top displacement vs loading curves were obtained to determine the overall performance of the building. Contributions of steel and RC frames to the carried loads were computed individually. Load/capacity ratios for the ground floor columns were presented. In the study, 3D rendered images of the building with the suggested retrofits are created to better visualize the real effect of the retrofit on the final appearance of the façade of the building. The analysis results have shown that the proposed external steel frame retrofit configurations increased the lateral load carrying capacity and lateral stiffness and can be used to improve the seismic performance of RC framed buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-56
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• 2023

Banda Aceh is one of the areas that sustains the most damage during a natural disaster because it contains so many houses, office buildings, public facilities, and schools. Public structures in coastal areas are highly susceptible to earthquakes, resulting in high casualties and property damage. Several public structures were reconstructed during the reconstruction and rehabilitation period. Because this building is located in an area with a high risk of earthquakes, its capacity must be analyzed initially. Additionally, history indicates that Aceh Province has been struck by numerous earthquakes, including the largest ever recorded in 1983 and the most recent earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 SR on December 26, 2004. The city of Banda Aceh was devastated by this earthquake, which was followed by a tsunami. The possibility of a large earthquake in Banda Aceh City necessitates that the structures constructed there be resistant to seismic risk. This study's objective was to evaluate the seismic performance of the existing building by applying the method of strengthening the structure in the form of jacketing columns and the addition of steel bracing in order to estimate the performance of the structure using multiple ground motions. Therefore, several public buildings must be analyzed to determine the optimal seismic retrofitting technique.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.121-136
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• 2024

In recent times, there has been a growing need to retrofit and strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) structures that have been damaged. Numerous studies have explored various methods for strengthening RC beams. However, there is a significant dearth of research investigating the utilization of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) for retrofitting damaged RC beams within a concrete frame. This study aims to develop a finite element (FE) model capable of accurately simulating the nonlinear behavior of RC beams and subsequently implementing it in an RC concrete frame. The RC frame is subjected to loading until failure at two distinct degrees, followed by retrofitting and strengthening using Ultra high performance shotcrete (UHPS) through two different methods. The results indicate the successful simulation of the load-displacement curve and crack patterns by the FE model, aligning well with experimental observations. Novel techniques for reinforcing deteriorated concrete frame structures through ABAQUS are introduced. The second strengthening method notably improves both the load-carrying capacity and initial stiffness of the load-displacement curve. By incorporating embedded rebars in the frame's columns, the beam's load-carrying capacity is enhanced by up to 31% compared to cases without embedding. These findings indicate the potential for improving the design of strengthening methods for damaged RC beams and utilizing the FE model to predict the strengthening capacity of UHPS for damaged concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.503-509
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• 2011

ECC is a micro-mechanically designed cementitious composite which exhibits tightly controlled crack width and strain hardening behavior in uniaxial tension while using a moderate amount of reinforcing fiber, typically less than 2% fiber volume fraction. Recently, a variety of applications of this material ranging from repair and retrofit of structures, cast-in-place structures, to precast structural elements requiring high ductility are developed. In the present study, a retrofitting method using ECC reinforced with high strength rebar was proposed to enhance load-carrying capacity and crack control performance of deteriorated reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Six beam specimens were designed and tested under a four-point loading setup. The flexural test revealed that load-carrying capacity and crack control performance were significantly enhanced by the use of ECC and high strength rebar. This result will be useful for practical field applications of the proposed retrofitting method.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.159-172
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• 2019

This paper presents an investigation into the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams retrofitted by ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) layers. The experimental study has been conducted in two parts. In the first part, four methods of retrofitting with UHPFRC layers in both the up and down sides of the beams have been proposed and their efficiency in the bonding of the normal concrete and ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete has been discussed. The results showed that using the grooving method and the pre-casted UHPFRC layers in comparison with the sandblasting method and the cast-in-place UHPFRC layers leads to increase the load carrying capacity and the energy absorption capacity and causes high bond strength between two concretes. In the second part of the experimental study, the tests have been conducted on the beams with single UHPFRC layer in the down side and in the up side, using the effective retrofitting method chosen from the first part. The results are compared with those of non-retrofitted beam and the results of the first part of experimental study. The results showed that the retrofitted beam with two UHPFRC layers in the up and down sides has the highest energy absorption and load carrying capacity. A finite element analysis was applied to prediction the flexural behavior of the composite beams. A good agreement was achieved between the finite element and experimental results. Finally, a parametric study was carried out on full-scale retrofitted beams. The results indicated that in all retrofitted beams with UHPFRC in single and two sides, increasing of the UHPFRC layer thickness causes the load carrying capacity to be increased. Also, increases of the normal concrete compressive strength improved the cracking load of the beams.